


I Felt You In My Life (Before I Ever Thought To)

by Kapua



Series: Just the Beating of Hearts (Flash Challenge) [3]
Category: The Witcher (TV), Wiedźmin | The Witcher (Video Game), Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types, Wiedźmin | The Witcher Series - Andrzej Sapkowski
Genre: F/F, Flash Fiction, Yennaia, very mild angst, with a happy ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-14
Updated: 2020-08-14
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:33:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25889659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kapua/pseuds/Kapua
Summary: After Yennefer disappears from Rinde, Tissaia takes it upon herself to find a way to bring the younger woman back.Done for a prompt: Yennefer has disappeared from Rinde and no one can find her, and Tissaia is worried.
Relationships: Tissaia de Vries/Yennefer z Vengerbergu | Yennefer of Vengerberg
Series: Just the Beating of Hearts (Flash Challenge) [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1878580
Comments: 14
Kudos: 78





	I Felt You In My Life (Before I Ever Thought To)

**Author's Note:**

> For the flash fiction challenge!

The day that Yennefer disappears is one of the worst of Tissaia's life. Which is saying something, really, considering she's been alive for nearly a millennium. But there are few things that compare to the all-encompassing dread that settles over her when she suddenly is hit with a sense of _absence_. She knows who it's from instantly, but that doesn't stop her from stretching out with her mind to desperately hunt for the threads of chaos that belong to Yennefer.

She comes up empty. There's nothing there, and for approximately sixty seconds the world spins around her as she tries to process the raging storm of emotion inside her at the mere thought of Yennefer dying. 

Except then it occurs to her--there's something different about this, something not quite right. She can't put her finger on it at first, but then it hits her. Because if she focuses carefully enough, she can pinpoint the exact spot where Yennfer blinked out of existence. And if this was a normal death (the thought makes her tremble with some undecipherable emotion), then that would be the end of it. But there are echoes of a different magic lingering in the air, filtering into the soil where Yennefer had stood, and there's no sign of a body.

Tissaia eases herself into her chair and lights her pipe with trembling fingers, drawing in a deep breath of the smoke and holding it to try to calm herself. When she's stopped shaking, she turns to stare at the books lining the shelves of her office and her brow furrows. Whatever this is, Yennefer isn't dead--she's just...gone. And _gone_ can be fixed, if she can only find the right place to look.

###

She spends months searching. Every free second she can spare is spent with her face shoved in a book, hunting down every last bit of arcane magic she can find to try to understand what's happened to Yennefer. At first there's nothing, but gradually she begins to piece together some of what may have gone wrong.

If (and it's a big if, she knows that) Yennefer just _happened_ to attempt a very specific ritual involving a Djinn, there's a chance that she's been snared on a plane somewhere between the physical and ethereal worlds. It's a long shot, but it would explain the traces of unfamiliar magic Tissaia had felt around where Yennefer disappeared, and she knows that the younger woman had been dabbling in all manner of efforts to regain her fertility. It's perhaps not such a far-fetched idea to imagine that she would have attempted to cage a Djinn within herself, foolishness and consequences be damned.

The initial discovery of what may have happened is not a happy one, necessarily. There's no easy way to fix it, and ultimately that's what Tissaia is seeking. For reasons she refuses to acknowledge even to herself, she needs to find a way to bring Yennefer back. The thought of an eternity without the younger woman--even though their relationship was shaky at best, antagonistic and vicious at worst--is enough to make her want to curl up in her bed and refuse to move.

Slowly, though, her research pays off. She uncovers hints of different methods that she can use to lay a trail of breadcrumbs that Yennefer can follow to escape the limbo she's in, and she pours all of her energy into completing the various rituals. 

When the last one is done and she rests against the ground, spent and exhausted, Tissaia prays to all of the gods she's long since stopped believing in that this will work.

###

Months pass in a blur as she waits for something to happen. She renews the wards when necessary, mixes fresh potions and traces new runes on the floor at the required intervals to ensure that the path will be clear to Yennefer. But there's never any sign of...anything, really. 

Tissaia forces herself to continue searching for alternative explanations of what might have happened to Yennefer, but the nagging doubt that this whole undertaking is a fool's errand gnaws at the back of her mind. She forces the misgivings aside each morning that she rises, and she pointedly ignores the sympathetic looks that Triss shoots her when she comes to Aretuza on an errand. 

Sometimes when she's by herself and wandering the halls late at night, she swears she can almost _feel_ Yennefer there with her. It makes the phantom ache in her heart open anew every time it happens, but she savors the pain. It feels like her penance for not being able to save Yennefer all those years ago, and for failing her even now.

So she waits, and she wanders, and she tries to keep the tiny flicker of hope in her chest alive.

###

When it happens, it catches her completely by surprise. She's getting ready for bed in her chambers and moves to fold her dress and set it on the chair, and when she turns back to face her bed Yennefer is there. 

The younger woman looks a little pale but otherwise unharmed, and for a second Tissaia thinks she's hallucinating. She stumbles towards the bed fully expecting for Yennefer to disappear again. But then warm hands are wrapping around her arms, tugging her closer until the two women are pressed together as tightly as possible. 

Tissaia's hands slowly come up to wrap around Yennefer's back, still expecting her to disintegrate into nothingness at any moment, but the younger woman's body is solid and _real_ beneath her hands. The realization that Yennefer is really, truly _here_ shocks a choked sob from Tissaia's chest and her grip turns frantic, clutching at skin as Yennefer does the same.

They stay like that until the candles in the room have burned down to pools of wax, and it's Yennefer who finally pulls away to look up at Tissaia.

"Thank you," she murmurs, reaching up to tuck an errant strand of hair behind Tissaia's ear.

"For what?"

And then Yennefer is giving her the softest smile Tissaia thinks she's ever seen, and she leans up to brush her lips against Tissaia's in a sweet kiss. The act unlocks a flurry of emotion in Tissaia's chest that makes her breath catch in her throat, and her eyes are a little wet when Yennefer settles back against the bed.

"For showing me the way home."

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to everyone reading these short little baby fics :) Yell at me on tumblr @kapuahiwahiwa or in the comments if you've got prompts you want me to fill!


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